


Circling the Wagons

by helsinkibaby



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The Following
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: 1-million-words, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 07:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13829427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: It's over a year since Joe Carroll died and Mike finally feels like he's fitting in with his new team on the BAU. A chance discovery proves to him just how much that's true.





	Circling the Wagons

**Author's Note:**

> For one million words February bingo prompt crossover

Mike knows something is up when he and Morgan stand to go out for lunch and Garcia, who has unusally been hanging out in the bullpen, stands too. Instead of joining them however, she turns, looks up towards Hotch's office and stares. Second later, the door opens and Hotch exits, comes down the stairs, talking as he does.

"Mike, briefing room," is all he says and Mike stands because when your Unit Chief tells you to go somewhere, that's where you go. Throwing a look over his shoulder to the rest of the team, they look as mystified as he feels and it falls to Morgan to ask what's going on with only one word.

"Hotch?"

Ever since he joined this team, Mike's been trying to figure out the verbal shorthand they share after so many years working together. This one though, he gets straight away; a mixture of what's going on and how can we help. Hotch pauses, turns slowly and sees each member of his team looking at him. Slowly, he nods, and as one they stand and follow him to the briefing room.

Nice as it is to have the whole team there, Mike knows this is about him and his stomach churns as he takes a seat, waits for Hotch to speak. He knows things are bad when Hotch says nothing, just gives Garcia a nod and the tech specialist begins to speak.

"So, I was running facial rec for the Petersen case, and I got a hit. But not for Petersen." She presses a couple of buttons on her pad, a face fills the view screen and Mike's blood runs cold. The hair is longer, more salt and pepper than dark now, and he's grown a beard but the eyes...Mike would know those eyes anywhere.

"That's Joe Carroll."

It's Morgan who speaks and Garcia nods. "I know."

JJ leans forward, eyes narrowed. "But he's dead...the wounds, the explosion, the water...he couldn't have survived."

"I ran several frames to be sure. It's him." Garcia looks like she's close to tears as she stares at Mike. "Mike, I'd give anything to be wrong...I'm so sorry."

Mike stands slowly, reaches for his phone, remembers tossing it on his desk as he followed Hotch. He's uncomfortably aware of the team looking at him and it's Morgan who asks him, "Where are you going? You can't..."

Mike shakes his head, because he can and he will. "I need to find Debra," he says because she can't find out about this in the grapevine and he's not going to relax until he sees her.

"Mike, Debra is perfectly safe." Hotch is, as ever, the voice of reason. "As of right now, we are the only people who know that Joe Carroll is still alive, Garcia has been monitoring-"

Mike doesn't let him finish. "That's great, Hotch, it really is." He knows talking like this to his boss is not smart; he just doesn't care. Not now, not after this. "But you might remember that the last time I didn't know where Debra was and Joe Carroll and his crazies were on the loose, it was because they'd buried her in a fucking coffin in the woods."

Garcia makes a choked noise as Morgan stands up, holds out a hand. "Mike," he says and Mike doesn't let him finish either.

"Don't tell me to calm down," he says. "I'm not going to calm down until I see my wife."

"Mike."

A new voice comes from the open doorway and Mike wheels around, shoulders slumping with relief. Because standing there staring at him, eyes wide, face pale, is Agent Debra Parker Weston and he has never been so relieved to see her.

"Calm down," she tells him and then she is walking towards him even as he is closing the distance between them, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. For all her words to him, he knows she's scared, can feel her trembling in his arms, can feel her hands making fists of the material at the back of his shirt.

"Are you ok?" he asks, pulling back to cup her face in his hands and she nods. He kisses her then, equal parts love and relief and when she pulls back, her eyes are wet and she is smiling.

"Penelope and Aaron called me," she tells him, looking past him to Garcia and Hotch. "I came straight here." Mike looks at them too, eyes narrowing and Debra must know what he's thinking because she continues, "They knew where you were; they wanted to make sure I was safe. I asked them not to tell you until I got here...I knew what you'd think."

Mike runs his hands down her arms, takes her two hands in his. "OK," he says, because there are some battles that don't need to be fought and there's a bigger one approaching. Besides, Garcia and Hotch had Debra's safety in mind; Mike can always get behind that. "Ryan and Claire, do they know, are they ok?"

Hotch nods. "After Debra, the first person I called was Marshal Turner. He knows where they are...he's on his way to secure them now."

"But Carroll doesn't know we know he's out there." It's Morgan who speaks, pushing his chair out from the table and standing up again. He meets Mike's gaze, then looks pointedly at Debra. Mike glances at her, sees her staring at the view screen and the picture of Joe Carroll and if she was pale moments ago, she's ashen now. He doesn't like it, it reminds him too much of the awful moments when he was sure he'd lost her and he puts one arm around her, rubs her back. Morgan pulls back his chair, indicates that Debra should sit down in it. She does so with a grateful smile and Mike sits back down beside her, still holding her hand in his. "That changes everything, if he doesn't know he's been seen," Morgan continues.

Garcia nods. "The video came from Pennsylvania. I have facial recognition software working on every traffic cam, every ATM cam, every piece of film I can get my hands on." Her jaw is set, resolute. "If Joe Carroll is out there, I will find him."

She says it like it's a solemn promise and Mike has spent enough time around Garcia in the last six months to know that that's exactly what she meant it as. He squeezes Debra's hand, tries to give her a small smile but he knows he fails utterly. "So what do we do now?" he asks. "Wait?"

Hotch nods slowly while Garcia stands. "I'll go see if anything turned up," she says but if Mike knows Garcia, she's got an alert set up on her ever-present iPad, so there's no news yet.

After she's left the room, JJ stands. "I'll go with her," she says. "Try to stop her from spontaneously combusting." She gives Debra a smile as she passes, drops a hand briefly on Mike's shoulder. "Wish me luck," she stage whispers and this time, Mike feels a genuine smile on his face, sees one tugging at Debra's lips too.

"Mike, you and Debra are on lockdown here." Hotch's tone is his 'don't argue with me' one but Mike wasn't thinking about doing that. He nods, because Quantico is the safest place for them right now - even if Joe's followers don't know he's alive, even if there is one here, they'll have numbers on their side. "At least until we find out what we're dealing with."

Mike feels the shudder that runs the length of Debra's body, squeezes her hand again. "Thank you, Aaron," Debra says quietly and he smiles.

"We'll give you the room," Hotch says, ushering the others out and then it is just Mike and Debra, side by side.

He turns her chair around so that she's facing him, scoots his as close to hers as he possibly can. Then his hands find hers again and he is looking into her eyes that are suddenly brimming with tears. She sucks in a deep breath, lets it out slowly as she looks up at the ceiling. "I was just beginning to believe it was all over," she says eventually, and so had he. They were both finally beginning to sleep through the night instead of trading waking each other with nightmares, both starting to plan for a future that they had finally begun to believe they could actually have. "It's been over a year... We rounded up so many people.. What's he been doing?"

There are too many ways to answer that question and Mike doesn't even try. Instead he slides his hands up her arms to rest on her shoulders. "We will find him, Deb," he promises. "It's not like last time - we're ahead of him."

Debra's smile is wan. "I hope so," is all she says.

"If Garcia says she'll find him, you know she will." If there's one thing Mike has confidence in, it's Garcia's computer skills. "And nothing is going to happen to you, Deb... I won't let it."

He means it because he almost lost her before and he's not going to let that happen again - he's not going to let we out of his sight until he knows Joe Carroll is locked up or, preferably, dead.

Debra sighs, reaches out and touches his cheek. "I know," she whispers, her arms going around his neck. He puts his arms around her waist, tugs gently and despite where they are, she comes willingly, sits on his lap and buries her head in his neck. "I'm scared," she whispers after a moment and it's not lost on him the way she said it, not looking at him - old habits die hard.

"I know," he admits, holding her tighter. "So am I."

They stay like that for what seems like a long time before Debra straightens up, pushes her hair back from her face. Or at least she attempts to - Mike intercepts her hand halfway because that's a job he likes to do. "You owe Aaron an apology," she tells him quietly and he nods.

"Yeah," he says. "I should go do that." She stands and so does he and she nods in the direction of the bullpen.

"I'll be at your desk."

He watches her go then he goes to Hotch's office, knocks at the open door. Hotch is there, on the phone, while Rossi sits across from him. It's Rossi who beckons Mike in. "The Director," he says and that goes some way to explaining the extra-deep furrows on Hotch's brow. When he finally hangs up, he closes his eyes for a moment, shakes his head. "I take it that went well," Rossi says with typical deadpan expression and Hotch shoots him a look that makes him raise a hand in apology.

"Mike," says Hotch, otherwise ignoring Rossi's words. "How's Debra?"

"Terrified." Mike decides to go with the truth right out of the gate - these two men are too good at what they do for him to do anything else. "And honestly, I'm not much better. But thank you...for getting in touch with her." He takes a deep breath as Hotch nods. "And I owe you an apology, for what I said to you... I wasn't thinking."

Hotch takes a sharp breath in, looks down and taps the table twice. "It was a natural reaction," he says. "I understand what you were feeling."

It's typical Hotch understatement, because Mike knows he understands all too well the terror of having your wife - ex, in Hotch's case - threatened by a serial killer. In Hotch's case though, there had been no happy ending.

"I know you do," Mike tells him. "And I'm sorry."

Hotch meets his gaze. "Apology accepted," he says. Mike goes to leave and Hotch's voice stops him. "Mike? We will get him."

"I know."

As Mike goes to leave again, he gets distracted by the view in the bullpen and seeing that, Rossi stands too, follows his gaze. Debra is sitting at Mike's desk, Reid and Morgan having pulled up their chairs on either side and the three are having a quiet conversation. As they watch, JJ comes over and joins them, shakes her head at something Reid says before turning to Debra.

"Now there's a sight to strike fear into a man's heart," Rossi says, lips turning up into a small smile. "The wife and the ex, hanging out together."

Mike doesn't miss the twitch of Hotch's lips and he shakes his head. "You do remember, JJ and I only went on a few dates when we were both at the academy," he reminds them. "It barely counts."

"Ah, my friend..." Rossi claps him on the shoulder with a decidedly paternal air. "They all count."

There's a sound from Hotch like he's stifling a chuckle and Mike decides that the best thing to do is get the hell out of Dodge while he's, if not ahead, then at least even, or pretending to be. He hurries down the stairs, crosses to his desk and when Debra sees him approaching, her whole body relaxes and she gives him a warm smile. She lifts one eyebrow in silent question and he nods, letting her know that everything is ok and then he glances at JJ, gives her a questioning look. "I thought you were calming Garcia," he asks and she lifts her hands up, palms facing skyward, a 'can you believe it' expression on her face.

"She threw me out... told me I was making her nervous," she says, incredulity in every syllable and Mike actually laughs. "That's what I said." Shaking her head, she perches herself on the edge of the desk across from Mike's, Mike standing beside Debra, his hand automatically finding her shoulder. "How are you two holding up?" she asks and Debra's smile is tight. 

"I keep waiting to wake up," is all she says. Mike squeezes her shoulder, while JJ's expression is sympathetic. 

"I keep trying to come up with something I can say that will actually help," she says, shaking her head. "And I can't." She twists her lips, looks over towards her own desk, to the picture of Will and Henry she keeps there. "This is just... it's unbelievable."

"Most of the Carroll case was," Mike murmurs, and Debra reaches up, closes her hand over his. Behind Mike, Morgan claps him on the shoulder. 

"Yeah, like Weston here ending up with a stunner like you," he says, grinning down at Debra. It's not the first time Mike's heard him say it, usually at two in the morning in the middle of a case somewhere when everyone is punch drunk with tiredness and nothing is sacred. It's the first time Debra's heard it though and Mike rolls his eyes for effect, parrots the next part off with Morgan. "Talk about punching above your weight..."

Reid and JJ, each of whom have been party to this double act on more than one occasion, are grinning and Debra is too. "What can I say?" she asks Morgan with a tilt of her head and a light in her eyes that was one of the things that first drew Mike to her. "He chased me til I caught him."

Morgan blinks as the words register, then he actually howls, slaps Mike on the shoulder. "Man, I knew I liked her," he decides and Mike's response is instant. 

"Yeah, well, too late, she's taken." He says it with good nature, because this is all part of the two in the morning patter, and he says it with a serious look to Morgan that Debra can't see, because Morgan's teasing was exactly what they needed to break the tension, to be normal if only for a few moments. 

Reality, Mike knows, will intrude soon enough. But until it does, he has his team behind him and his wife beside him, so things could be an awful lot worse.


End file.
